At present, telephony networks, and in particular mobile telephony networks, are primarily used to enter a telephone number, press SEND to connect and then END to disconnect. This is underscored by the fact that telephony still accounts for around 91% in global mobile telephony revenue generation. This observation provides a valuable metric when evaluating new mobile telephony technologies, as most people still consider the mobile telephone to be a cordless telephone.
Attempts are increasingly being made to exploit the capabilities of modem telephony networks in order to provide enhanced services to users of the networks. For example, enhancements to existing telephony services include the increasing use of IVR centers, subscription services which transmit information to subscribers on a selective basis by SMS, and the like. Various forms of banking have also been proposed for users of mobile networks.
To achieve the above additional functionalities, vast sums of money have been spent in developing suitable mobile data bearers and protocols, including PLUS USSD CSD (SMS) WAP HSCSD WIG EDGE UM OTA GPRS MMS 3G UMTS, with each one having a varying degree of success and customer acceptance. Even PLUS (e.164), the service that is the essence in Global Service Mobile (GSM) roaming, remains problematic as few succeed in locating the symbol to enter numbers in this notation.
The notable exception up to now is SMS, and even though it has emerged as the most successful mobile data protocol thus far, the revenues it generates are paltry when compared to the highly sustainable and widely accepted wireless telephony service.
It is believed that the key to success in mobile data services is based on how seamlessly services can be addressed using the standard 12 digit telephone keypad, and it is rather telling to note that telephony and SMS are both dial addressed services. Thus, although it is attractive to users of a telephony network to have access to additional services, it is important that such services should be as simple to use as possible in order for them to be widely adopted.
In view of the above, it is believed that the litmus test for any new cellular technology wanting to gain mass acceptance is whether it can preserve the current behavior in dialing telephone numbers. Today, several generations later, and as many technology advances, the industry is still all about SEND and END and the associated recording of air time consumption that results in revenue generation.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a signaling method that succeeds in bridging the voice and data divide by switching the call context on demand, to encapsulate the said data methods and services in the voice (telephony) established connection.